Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1887-04-22
WALKERS VENGEANCE.

! Between tho years 1868 end 1855 n full
thousand people heard tho story of Grim
WalEor. That waa during tho ficrccst
part of OUT civil war, and minor Incl
dents were speedily absorbed and forgot
ten doubt if thcro aro u scoro of poo
plo living to-day who can recall tho do
talla oil this UinSl:lar man'n adventures,
! and do net remember that anything
save brief outline Of tho ,uassacro Of
MS family has over appeared il print.
was pony cypress rider on tho
Overland route. That meant helping to
to guard stages, carrying light mail on
my saddle, forwarding dispatches, taking
my turn to net es agent of solno stable
and various other things which need not
bo explained. Thero wero then several
| great trails leading west from tho borders
of civilization, and all wero moro or less
travelled, but tho favorite routes were
from st. Joseph and Council Bluffs, tho
one Being known as tho northern and tho
other us tho southern route. Twas on n
route along tho Platte river, west of
Fort Kearncy, which was sometimes
; fifty miles long and sometimes 125, nc
coretinS 10 tho way tho Indians wcro be-
having and tho number of nen wo Ind
for service.
1iiih NGihcT WIS u pioneer nImCI
Charles o. Walkor, from near Iowa
City. lio was giant i'll size, naturally
sour and taciturn of disposition, and his
family consisted of wifo and tl,roo
children. While tho country was cx-
cited over the civil war, and travel by
the overland had almost como to stop
except i'll cases of necessity, Walker and
others formed an immigrant party to
make n push for the golden land. When
first hoard of them they numbered
twenty wagons and sixty or seventy
people, and We're on the Plato, east of
hearney, which was thon dangerous
ground. When tho outfit reached Kcar-
ncy come were for turning back. others
Tor elcctinS now captain, others for Get
Ting down near by and establishing
ranches. 1t seemed that thero were
three OF four different factions in the
party, and several bitter quarrcls had
resulted. LIN the then state of Affairs 600
brave and unitel mon could havo scarce
ly hoped TO reach tho Colorado or Wyo-
ming line, for the Indians were up in
armI on every trail and tliirsting for
blood and Hcalps. When it was known,
therefore that Grim Walker, az he had
como to b. known, hal boon elected
captain of faction md intended to push
on ut tho head Of only seven families,
which could muster but nino fighting
men, soldicrs, hunters, Indian fighters
and overland men argued and scollcd
and predicted. Not nn argument could
move Grim Walker. Not prediction
could frighten one of his adhcrents. 1t
appeared TO them to DO a case where
manhood and pride werc at stake, and
when it was limited that tho military
would restrain them they made secret
preparations and departed ut night. II
was an awful thing for those bigoted and
determined men to drive their wives and
ciuldron, consisting of twenty-five people.
to horrible DEATH but nothing short of
liattle with the military would have
stopped them.
O'Clock, drawing away quietly and
travelling ct their best speed They could
not have gone ten miles before being dis
covered by the Indians. a party OF
twenty of us left over tho same trail a.
noon next day, and we had gone only
fifteen miles when we found evidences
that tho little party, which was keeping
along the Platte. had bccn nttacke,l.
This must have been about daylight
Soon after sunrise thby had been driven
TO slelter i'll grove of cottonwools, bit
before reaching it one of the men hal
been killed and scalpcd, n wagon hal
broken down and been abandoned and
stray bullets had killed woman and n
Child as they covered down behind tho
cargo of tho wagons. At o'clock in the
afternoon we came to tho grove. driving
away the last of the savaccs but we
were TOO late. Such spectacle as wo
there bcileld was enough to sickcn tho
heart of tho bravest Indian fighter. The
httlo party had been attacked by about
500 redskins: and the fight hnd lasted for
half q day. AS near as VIC could figure
from blood spots on tho earth fourteen In
dians had been killed, and thero wcrc
bloody trails to chow that as many moro
had been wounded. Tho foolhartly men had
died game rs IN offset. We made out
that their camp had been carried by
Charge, and that the last Of tho fighting
was hand to hand. Five OF tho women
hid been carried off into horrible captiv-
~, whilc all others had been butchercd-
al save Grim Walker. Tho bodies had
bccn cut and hacked and mutiiatcd in n
terrible manner, but we could have
identified Walker by his size even had
he been decapitated. Tho immigrants
borscs had all been killed, the wagons
plundcred and burned, and tho savages
wcrc bundling up somo of the plundcr
when VIC canc i'll sight and drove them
away. All that was left us was tho sad
work OF burying tho corpses.
A month later we heard that Grim
Walker had escaped from tho fight
breaking out of tho grove and riding of
on a horse just as the conflict closed in.
Men belonging to tho Overland had mot
and talked with him cost of Kearncy.
fIc had thrco wounds, but seemed un-
conscious Of them Gs he briefly related
tho story of tho fight, and vowed that he
would have tho lives CT five Indian1 for
every whito person who had persisted.
Nothing further was heard CT him until
Juno of the following year. was then
in government employ rs scout and dis
patch rider, and was on the Smoky Hill
fork of the Kansas river. twenty miles
west OF Fort Mcpherson, riding with two
other scouts, when wc came upon Grim
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